i have a 2 month old juwel 125 tank, the water is still crystal clear,ive been doing 20% water changes weekly but i havent as yet changed any of the filters? ive read on the juwel website that i should be following a strict routine for this,i think ive proved they are just trying to milk more money from me by saying this but what is a sensible time for change and should i only do half at a time.....hmm

Yes. It is a scam. Your biological filtration should not be changed at all. This would be your sponges, biowheels, ceramic noodles etc. You should periodically rinse this media out in tank water, or treated (dechlorinated) tap water, but don't replace it unless it is literally falling apart. It there is a need to replace, only replace a bit at a time.

depends on the type of filter - if it is a bio-wheel type filter, the best sign that the filters need cleaning/rinsing is when the bio-wheels slow down almost to a grinding halt

as for bio-wheels, never change them out

as for charcoal, it usually lasts a good 4-6 weeks - but you will find with experience, charcoal is more a scam too - "experts" say charcoal makes the water crystal clear - well I have a tank with absolutely no filtration which means no charcoal, and the tank is always crystal clear

crystal tanks need two things: never overfeed & water change twice a week, 15% each day

so tell us vertman, what type of filtration do you have in the tank?

then tell me Alasse - I have no charcoal, no filtration, no overhead lighting (all natural sunlight, in the morning the window fills with enormous rays of sun practically drowning the entire left side of the tank (the other side is in a shade and covered with rock ledges), I do not overfeed, I water change 25-30% of the water every week, I never vacuum the gravel (for over 2 years), I have about 53 fish plus snails in the tank, I never use any chemicals in the tank (never as medication and never during the water change), the only circulation in the tank at the water surface is from 2 bubble wands where the bubbles break at the water surface providing for the oxygen; the last time I had a death in the tank was 6 weeks ago, an aging red platy), all the chemicals tested (I tested the tank just to prove a point for this thread and/or question - for I no longer water test the tank unless something via observation forces me to water test like if a bunch of fish all of a sudden is affected by ich), the chemical results: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 30, oxygen 8.3, iron 0, temperature, always steady at 78-82, hardness 4, ph 8.1, phosphate 0.1, copper 0 - after all those specifications, give me a solid reason one should have charcoal?

And also, as for the crystal clear - you are right, a crystal clear tank does not always mean everything is fine, but it does say one thing very clearly: no bacterial bloom, therefore the tank is not full or mini cycling - a crystal clear tank is much better than a tank that is cloudy or green looking (algae)

I'm sure if I took a poll, 9 out of 10 people on this forum would choose crystal clear tank as opposed to cloudy or green

Nevertheless - I know we usually butt heads, and I respect you for your position, it's really all cool - based on the tank I have, is charcoal really necessary?

Thanks

For you no, You tank is a specific ecosystem, it has live plants to help do filtration, you feed sparingly..etc

But it can be beneficial to others *L* Carbon does remove nasties, it does remove tannins, that is a fact, not a scam

I use it, as i said, in breeding tanks, because they ARE overfed, they do not have ANY live plants in them to assist the filtration.

I also run tanks that do not have carbon, why, because these tanks it really isnt of any benefit, no tannin probs, no overfeeding.

You can have a tank cycling that has clear water *LOL* The 5ft after a few weeks was crystal clear but the parameters in the tank were deadly!!!

Nowhere Yasher did i state that EVERY tank MUST have carbon. I purely was saying that carbon is far from a scam and can be extremely benifial to some tanks!!

LOL@natalie